Dresden 2014 – scientific programme

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HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik

HL 70: Semiconductor laser I: VECSEL and cascade lasers

HL 70.8: Talk

Wednesday, April 2, 2014, 16:45–17:00, POT 112

Continuously tunable, self-seeded GaSb-based semiconductor disk laser emitting around 2.05µm — •Peter Holl, Sebastian Kaspar, Steffen Adler, Marcel Rattunde, Andreas Bächle, Rolf Aidam, and Joachim Wagner — Fraunhofer-Institut für Angewandte Festkörperphysik, Tullastrasse 72, D-79108 Freiburg, Germany

Semiconductor disk lasers, also known as vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL), combine the wavelength versatility of semiconductor laser with the capability of a nearly diffraction-limited high-power output. Due to the broad gain spectrum of the semiconductor gain material, VECSELs are an attractive option to build a wavelength tunable laser source, which are needed for applications like high resolution spectroscopy.

In this presentation we will report on a tunable, self-seeded VECSEL emitting around 2.05 µm. An intra-cavity SiC heatspreader dissipates the heat of the active region to ensure high output power. At the same time we were able to overcome etalon effects that limit the selectable wavelengths to discrete values by using a wedged heatspreader, thus avoiding plane-parallel surfaces. The heatspreader inserts a tilted surface in the cavity acting as beam splitter, whose reflection is used to self-seed the laser. For this purpose the outcoupled beam is led onto a diffraction grating providing wavelength selective feedback into the cavity.

The achieved continuous tuning range around 2.05µm spans over 30nm, while the output power exceeds 400mW at room temperature.